Month: June 2019

We locate ‘to be near things, far from things or to possess things’. ‘ .. places with higher accessibility are more productive .. and modes of transport that reach more opportunities .. tend to have higher market share’. This is not a feature of our far-flung suburbs where transport and so accessibility is limited. We have to design better cities, and regional cities at that, so that they are centres in their own right and not just dormitories for the capitals.

We’ll surprise surprise, the Craik (ex-NFF boss Wendy Craig) Review on conservation laws and the agricultural sector is used by the Minister to say that farming interests should be considered before deciding whether to list threatened species. On how many fronts can we conduct simultaneous campaigns?https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jun/27/government-urged-to-set-up-1bn-fund-to-help-farmers-protect-the-environment

A better question than ‘How good is Australia’ is ‘How smart is Australia’. Support in Australia for coal consumption in 2016/17 was US$870 million and agreeing at the G20 to omit ‘global warming’ and ‘decarbonisation’ from the conference are two indications that the answer to the better question is ‘Not smart at all’.https://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/g20-nations-aid-for-coal-fired-power-triples-in-three-years-report-20190625-p5213r.html

“I am tired of being cynical about everything, sometimes there is just stuff that is good”. Night parrots and looking out for them are included in ‘stuff’. There’s a lot else for which we can save our cynicism.https://www.theguardian.com/environment/commentisfree/2019/jun/24/first-dog-on-the-moon-and-the-guest-of-honour-in-the-desert-who-never-turned-up

I read the article in a copy of the paper in a cafe, promise. The quote gives you the Newscorp view however. “Leadbeater’s possum will keep its critically endangered listing in another blow to Victoria’s shrinking industry”.https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/leadbeaters-possum-retains-critically-endangered-listing/news-story/861a07c26e8a151493e5425aa518f3a9

It would appear that the climate future we fear is already here – in Chennai, in our drought-stricken hinterlands and in the warming Arctic tundra, as well as many many places on this planet. How can we deal with displaced people when they number in the millions?https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-06-22/chennais-telling-the-globe-a-story-about-water-scarcity/11229084

Houston, no Canberra, we have a problem. “Sometimes the environment doesn’t need all its water but farmers desperately do need water”. I suppose giving advice based on science is one thing, a Minister that accepts that advice and is prepared to act upon is another. And that Canberra, is our very big problem!https://theconversation.com/memo-to-the-environment-minister-a-river-does-need-all-its-water-119089

When a corporation can patent a country’s staple food and control access, you know that free-market capitalism is no longer fit for purpose. That is of course, unless your purpose it to maximise shareholder value and care nought for the rest of humanity.https://newint.org/features/2019/06/18/how-corporation-patented-ethiopias-most-common-staple